Powder Room Renovation on a Budget – Part 1

Every few years, we pick an area in the house from the “Need to Reno” list and this year was the powder room! It has been on our list for awhile but it wasn’t one of those urgent matters. The powder room is not terribly outdated. In fact, painting the main floor and hallway of the house was our initial project but leaving the powder room seemed silly as it is such a small space. We would do it on a budget and it wouldn’t take much – so we thought. It has been about 3 weeks and its still not done. There has been more challenges than we thought. {For The Reveal: Part 2.}

Here is what our powder room looked like before:

Check our all the different shades of beige.

Less than 48 hours of making the decision, this was our bathroom. Ripping out the countertop, sink and mirror were no problem for J and his buddy.

Giant wall-to-wall mirror is gone!

Our Bathroom Vision

Our wish list:

vessel sink

round mirror

new faucet

new lighting, vintagey feel

board and batten on walls

fresh white paint on walls

painted vanity

white countertop

vintagey linoleum flooring

to reuse as much as possible

Our Inspiration:

Shopping is the best part of any renovation, so I got started with flooring.

Of course, J didn’t like any of these. Insert *eyeroll* here.

Bathroom Lighting

Light Fixture Inspiration

This light fixture was so expensive. They are based in the USA so shipping to Canada added to the already expensive price of it. While J was ready to spend whatever on something he loved, I was not. So I Googled. I stumbled onto a dupe! Check this out:

So similar right? Except it’s one notch better because the metal is dark – which coordinates so well with our black square knobs (see photo of vanity above). Done deal!

Then I realized if the fixtures are going to be black, will the towel bar, toilet paper holder and faucet have to match? J had the genius idea of spray painting the towel bar and TP holder so we didn’t have to buy new ones. Saved at least $40 right there.

Challenge #1: Counter

The counter situation was the challenging part. Because we were using our existing vanity and wanted a vessel sink, it meant that we had to get a custom cut countertop. In stock countertops were made for undermount sinks or sinks were already attached. We consulted a few counter places and most of them do not stock pieces ‘that small.’ They come in big slabs and we only needed 1/4 of it. Bummer. They can still cut it but we will be paying for the whole slab instead of only the portion we need.

At this point, we browsed Ikea. Oh, good ol’ Ikea. Easy, peasy vanities with all the necessary pieces included. We were so close to walking out the door with an Ikea vanity. But in the end, we really love the customized look of our existing one. So we decided to take the plunge and buy the entire slab and save the excess for future bathroom renovations (ie. girls’ shared bathroom, basement bathroom, etc). We also asked my brother and my dad if they wanted to replace any of their counters in their homes. Haha!

Challenge #2: Sink

We also looked at sinks. We had differing opinions on this.

J wanted one where the faucet attaches to the sink, for practical reasons and to save cutting costs.

I wanted the one like above, for no reason other than the fact that it’s prettier, haha! The top one seems so chunky.

I put out a poll on Instagram Stories and the favourite is pretty clear. 🙂 This was two weeks ago but we still haven’t bought a sink! Or a counter for that matter. But the board and batten is all done – and that makes me very, very happy.

Progress Thus Far….

Here’s what we have completed at this point:

Board and batten installed by J and his buddy. (I don’t have a specific tutorial as J’s friend installed it for us but tutorials can be found all over Pinterest.)

After painting.

Knobs are on!

Light fixture installed.

Towel bar sprayed painted black and installed.

If you want to see a mini tour of the renovation progress, hit up my Instagram. Click on “Home” in my highlights and you’ll see it all. 🙂

2 thoughts on “Powder Room Renovation on a Budget – Part 1”

I have never had the courage to undergo a reno. I always hear about how renos almost always take more time and money than expected. Hubby and I are not handy either. Your powder room is coming together nicely. I’m sure you’ll be thrilled and proud once it’s complete. It’s fun to follow you along the process.